Chapter 5: More Than Two Ghosts
Haruto gently closed the diary. In his mind, the distorted outline of a family was beginning to take shape, its tragic details sharpening with every passing moment.
Yotsuya Miko's face was a terrifying shade of pale. The words scrawled in the diary had forced her to recall the eerie doll from the storage room. That texture, which felt so much like real skin—cold, yet elastic—was a sensation no fabric could ever replicate.
"So… that doll… it's the little brother?" Her voice carried a tremor she couldn't quite conceal.
"Yes." Haruto nodded. "From the moment the little brother was born, the care this girl, Wanwan, received began to dwindle, eventually becoming outright indifference."
He continued, his tone analytical. "In a situation like that, an immature child can easily spiral into a dark place. She'd feel like her little brother stole everything that was hers. Resentment would pile up, day by day. And once the parents were away… for a six-year-old, it wouldn't be hard to act on that resentment."
A shudder ran through Yotsuya Miko, and she unconsciously pressed closer to Haruto. She was about to hand back the flashlight when her hand froze mid-air. Haruto was still holding one.
"You… how do you have another one?"
"I brought two to begin with," Haruto replied, a hint of mock bewilderment in his eyes. "Didn't you refuse one because you wanted to train your courage?"
Yotsuya Miko's eyes widened, and she nearly choked on her own breath. It wasn't that she didn't want it; she had just spent who knows how long fumbling for clues in this ghost-infested darkness, scared half to death! But seeing Haruto's feigned innocence, she could only swallow her retort. She snatched the offered flashlight and stomped silently into the room on the right side of the living room.
This was the parents' bedroom. It was surprisingly empty.
The only thing that could be considered a clue was a lady's fountain pen, suspended in mid-air by a single, thin red string. It hung there, motionless, exuding an indescribable eeriness.
Though they didn't understand its significance, they took the pen. It didn't take a genius to know that this was almost certainly a key item.
"What do we do now?" Yotsuya Miko glanced nervously back toward the passage they had come from.
"Isn't it obvious?" Haruto gave her an annoyed look. "It's not like you can search the rooms I've already cleared, or I can search yours."
Yotsuya Miko managed an embarrassed smile. She knew that, of course. But the thought of the ghost lurking in the left passage made it impossible for her to quell the fear coiling in her stomach.
The two of them walked toward the left passage. The corridor was exceptionally long and devoid of any light. They could only rely on their flashlights, which cut feeble circles into the oppressive darkness ahead.
Thump, tap… thump-tap, thump-tap…
The sound of their footsteps on the floor was unnervingly loud in the enclosed space. Each step seemed to strike Miko's heart like a drumbeat, winding her nerves tighter and tighter.
Finally, unable to bear the silence, she whispered, "Do you think… that human-skin doll has gotten out?"
"Probably not. It's not tall enough to reach the door handle."
Even as Haruto said it, a faint sense of unease pricked at him. He decided that after they finished exploring this wing, he would find a broom or something to barricade that door. They were done with the utility room, anyway.
Yotsuya Miko breathed a small sigh of relief, but just then, Haruto stopped dead in his tracks. Lost in her thoughts, she bumped right into his back.
"W-what is it? Why did you stop so suddenly?" she asked, her voice tight with panic.
"The door is open."
Yotsuya Miko's hand shook, nearly dropping the flashlight. She immediately aimed its beam in the direction Haruto was looking.
Caught in the focused cone of light, she could just make out the iron door, now hanging half-open. It swayed almost imperceptibly, creaking softly in a nonexistent breeze.
"Should we go back?" she pleaded, on the verge of tears. "Could that human-skin doll be right up ahead?"
"The timing is right. Let me tell you something that barely qualifies as good news at this stage." Haruto pointed back toward the living room. "The guy who was staring at us from this corridor when we first left the utility room? He's in the living room now. Probably moved while we were taking the floating fountain pen. When we came out of the bedroom, he was standing over by the toilet."
He paused, adding, "I didn't say anything because I was afraid you'd panic and trigger something bad."
The blood drained from Yotsuya Miko's face. She truly hadn't expected it. She had just brushed past a ghost without noticing a single thing.
The two of them continued forward, their pace slowing involuntarily as they approached the iron door of the utility room.
Dead silence emanated from within. The doll was, indeed, gone.
Once they were a safe distance away, they quickened their pace. Only when the iron door was completely out of sight did Haruto speak again.
"By now, do you know what our mission is?" Instead of stating it outright, he posed it as a question. Between the children's channel, the diary, and the pen hanging in the parents' room, the objective was already becoming quite clear.
Yotsuya Miko shook her head. "I only have a guess. The mission is a game… we probably need to play a few games."
"Hide-and-seek?"
Haruto nodded, then added, "And summon an Ouija spirit."
He elaborated, "We could try the Ouija board first. If it works, we might be able to ask about the instance's mission directly, even if that's not the primary game."
Now that she had a clearer understanding of their goal, Yotsuya Miko felt a bit more grounded, and they picked up their pace.
Fortunately, no sounds came from behind them as they reached the end of the hall.
Looking at the layout of the area before them, Haruto couldn't help but feel it was bizarre. They were standing in a kitchen, a prep counter in the center. The strange part was that there were two doors on each of the four walls.
What kind of sane person builds a house like this?
"Let's finish exploring before we decide whether to summon the spirit. We might find other clues."
"Okay." Yotsuya Miko followed his lead, and they began searching the kitchen. Unfortunately, their search yielded nothing useful.
"What are you doing?" she asked, confused, as she noticed Haruto pulling two large bags of flour from a cupboard.
Haruto tore one open and began scattering the white powder across the floor near the doorways. "Setting up an early warning system," he explained. "The doll clearly has a physical form. If it comes this way, it will definitely leave footprints."
Yotsuya Miko's eyes lit up. "Right! That way, we won't be completely caught off guard if there's danger here."
"Wrong." Haruto shook his head, pouring cold water on her enthusiasm. "Don't get happy too soon. Even if there are no footprints, it doesn't mean it's safe. Don't forget that guy in the corridor from the beginning; he might not have a physical form. And I don't think there are only two ghosts here…"
He paused, his voice dropping. "So, if we really have to play hide-and-seek, the one we're hiding from is definitely not just 'Wanwan.' The third ghost we encountered—though I couldn't tell if it was male or female—was definitely not the height of a six-year-old girl."
"If my deduction is correct," he concluded, "then we have to play a game of hide-and-seek with the child, Wanwan, while simultaneously avoiding other ghosts."
Haruto's analysis was logical and well-founded, and with each word, Yotsuya Miko felt her scalp grow increasingly numb. Although she never thought the mission would be easy, hearing it laid out so plainly—that they had to play hide-and-seek with several ghosts in this eerie house—still sent a wave of inevitable terror through her.
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